During a June 21, 1963, meeting at the White House, in the midst of the American civil rights movement, President John F. Kennedy suggested the formation of a group of lawyers to counter and reduce racial tensions by way of volunteer citizen actions.[1] On July 10, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law was publicly announced. The first co-chairs of the Committee were two well-known figures in the civil rights and legal fields, Bernard Segal and Harrison Tweed.[2] Over a hundred lawyers volunteered to serve in the organization, with both white and black attorneys being represented. Membership also included five past presidents of the American Bar Association and four members of its board, as well as twelve current presidents of state bar associations, and officials from the NAACP and its legal defense fund.[2] On August 9, 1963, the group officially registered as a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.[1] Its first executive director, David Stahl, was named in December 1963.[3]
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law, or simply The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights or Lawyers' Committee, is a civil rights organization founded in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy.
The group's first goal was to counter legal efforts to preserve segregation in Mississippi.[1] The Mississippi office of the organization opened on June 14, 1965, with a mission of getting the bar to take on the professional responsibility for leading the American civil rights movement and providing legal services where they would otherwise be unavailable.[4]
In 1967 and 1968, the Committee began providing assistance for human and civil rights problems in South Africa, litigating on behalf of the anti-apartheid movement and the Congressional Black Caucus within the United States.[5] The Southern Africa Project continued for more than 30 years, up through the liberation of Namibia and the end of apartheid in South Africa with free and open elections in 1994.[6]
The Committee began its Urban Areas Project after the 1968 assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. This project received financial support from private foundations to organize and staff local lawyers committees in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington.[7] The committee initially focused on defensive issues, but eventually evolved to become affirmative in nature.[8]
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The Lawyers' Committee continued to engage in major public policy issues. Work included affirmative positions on the extension of the Voting Rights Act in 1975, the 25-year extension of that Act in 1982, and on the Attorneys Fees Awards Act of 1976.[9] In 1982, the Committee’s Lloyd Cutler represented the NAACP in Clairborne Hardware Co v. NAACP, a case where several businesses sued the NAACP and received a judgment that would have made the NAACP insolvent. Cutler argued and won the case in the U.S. Supreme Court, reversing the previous judgment.[10]
Barbara Arnwine became the Executive Director in February 1989, succeeding Bill Robinson. The Committee added separate Fair and Affordable Housing and Environmental Justice Projects.[11] The Southern Africa Project was created to aid the evolution to majority rule in Namibia and South Africa. The project endorsed the "Free South Africa Movement", funding legal assistance for the defense of political prisoners in southern Africa, supporting lawyers challenging apartheid laws and rent and housing cases, representing of rent-boycotters in the townships, and helping bring awareness to policymakers in the United States about human rights issues in the South African area.[12]
The Committee challenged Mississippi congressional districts in Brooks v. Winter, which helped Mike Espy to become the first black congressmen from Mississippi in 100 years; it also challenged municipal and county redistricting in Greenville, Jackson, Mississippi; Annapolis, Maryland; and Petersburg, Virginia.[13] In Mississippi, the committee challenged at-large elections of state court judges in Martin v. Mabus, leading to the election of eight black judges.[14]
reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawyers%27_Committee_for_Civil_Rights_Under_Law